L.A. PARKER: Quality of life is next on the list for Trenton's recovery

I had been complaining about an uncooperative boss, had expected her unconditional support , when she struck me with this mental haymaker.

“You know,” she said, and just her startup tone should have alerted potential disagreement, “your job is to make your boss look good.”

Say what? You mean the guy who wore blinders as a fashion statement , I’m supposed to make him appear clairvoyant, even competent.

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Wait a minute. This is not an opinion about my current boss, or the one before that, or even his predecessor.

In fact, opinions here deal more with people who lead, Trenton’s power brokers in government and law enforcement, essentially community bosses who will appear smarter and better than an early tax return should they heed these suggestions.

First, an obvious conclusion, a state-monitored Targeted Integrated Deployment Effort (TIDE) positively impacted city law enforcement initiatives to push back against a wave of significant violence.

Yes, Trenton suffered a record number of murders in 2013 but TIDE kept the city from significant homicide numbers instead of the 37 or 41 recorded.

Plus, a warrant effort swept many city streets of potential criminal activists.

“Intense law enforcement and prosecutorial initiatives we launched last month to combat violence in Trenton are working,” Acting Attorney General John Hoffman said in September.

Hoffman announced a continuance of TIDE which initially had anticipated a one-month rollout.

While TIDE connected with Trenton police, federal, county, and state law enforcement agencies, added efforts in other areas are necessary to affect substantial change, especially when consideration is given to comments made in a Hamilton Avenue community after a gunman killed Robert Wright outside Bilancio’s Liquors last week.

Several residents called their neighborhood the worst ever imagined, said they couldn’t wait to move out.

Their complaints named prostitution and drug dealers as culprits of community destruction.

So, while TIDE focuses on large criminal shadows, obviously this city needs a housecleaning of prostitutes and low-level street drug merchants.

Trenton needs a better plan to deal with the well-known prostitutes and drug pushers.

Plus, here’s where the bosses look good.

Trenton needs a stepped up push to deal with quality of life issues; bodega owners who never clean their storefronts, property owners who allow their homes to deteriorate, and residents who engage in public urination.

The city must support an immediate plan to inspect every rental property, especially enforce a law that requires inspection of rental properties when new tenants move in.

While TIDE successfully fights important issues, Trenton should follow with a massive plan of inspection.

Our push to restore Trenton requires a comprehensive fight in all areas for TIDE to deliver its most significant results.

L.A. Parker is a Trentonian columnist. Reach him at laparker@trentonian.com. Twitter@laparker6.